A motorcycle parked in front of a tent on a pleasant green campsite

Home Sharon's Biking Blog

Revelations In The Rain

I am really excited about my next club ride out. We are all off to Lincolnshire for the Emma Radford Memorial Buell and Italian Motorcycle Festival and American Air Day. Friends in the club had been to the event the previous year and had recommended it to the club. There will be 9 of us travelling together on 8 bikes.

A couple of routes are proposed and Alison's route through Lowton, Lymm, Knutsford, Macclesfield, and Derbyshire certainly seems the most picturesque. However it means riding the Cat and Fiddle and well frankly I am scared. It is a twisty road, notorious for crashes and I have only done it before as a pillion on the bf's bike. Well I guess now is the time to give it a go myself. I decide not to dwell on it and just see what happens once I get there.

There are not many things that can get me up early but the prospect of a bike ride is one thing that does cause me to get the hell out of bed nice and early. The forecast is not good but having done all of my early learning through the winter one thing that does not bother me while riding is the prospect of rain. It is not of course my first choice but it does not instil any fear into me, I have had lots of practice so far.

So in the morning I am up early and all giddy. I load up my bike with my panniers that on the previous night I had packed and re- packed trying to find a space for spare bike boots. All to no avail, as I will be camping for a couple of nights my sleeping bag and airbed as well as my clothes all need to find a space on the bike, so no room for those spare boots. There is however with all my luggage now a handy space to attach my club mascot to the bike. Our club is BAT MCC (Bikes and Travels MCC) my club name is Ghost Bat so my little mascot is a Ghost Bat and I was childishly excited he was coming for his first ride. This is the biggest load I have carried on the bike thus far and I am a little apprehensive on how the extra weight will feel.

a white toy bat bungeed onto the back of sharon's keeway 125
Ghost Bat ready to ride

However once on the bike the bike felt great. I had noticed on my last trip that with luggage on the extra weight seems to make the bike feel that more grounded and stable. This is also the case this time. A big grin spreads from ear to ear inside my helmet. The bike feels good today, I feel good. With all my camping stuff there is no room to carry any emotional baggage along with me this time around.  It just feels right today, everything just feels smooth and fun, so happy days!!

Keeway TKS 125 motorcycle with saddle bags and a roll on the back seat
Biggest load yet and the bike handles beautifully.

To keep me company the bf is on his 125cc bike as well. It is decided that Ren and I shall be back markers. That way I have no need to feel any pressure to keep up with the bigger bikes because I will not be holding up anyone behind me. I will also avoid stopping to mark junctions and roundabouts. I have no problem with doing this but being on a 125 it would not be easy to then try and catch up the other bikes afterwards. 

The first part of the journey is dry but soon enough the skies turn black and it batters down hard and fast. We stop off to scramble into waterproofs and then carry on. It is so heavy this rain that to be honest I can not really see much more than vague shapes in front of me. But the bike's tyres grip the road well and I keep pace with the bigger bikes in front of me. It may be raining but I am really enjoying the ride, the pace suits me and I am not struggling at all to keep up with the bike in front of me and that feels real good. But hang on ewwww what is that horrible feeling?? Yuck one of my boots have surrendered to the onslaught of the downpour and sprung a leak. Oh that lovely squishy wet foot feeling. The rest of me though manages to fortunately stay dry and at last the rain begins to ease off.

I suddenly find myself on a rather twisty road, oh hang on a minute surely I have not ended up on the Cat and Fiddle without quite realising it? But the next set of sweeping bends I suddenly recognise. Yes indeed I have been happily riding the bends of the Cat without even knowing it. The sudden realisation that I am on this road causes a brief moment of panic. But I quickly tell myself that I was riding this route just fine without any fear a moment before. So I relax and sweep around the next bend, actually this is bloody good fun.

We pull in the pub's car park and I am feeling I little bit proud of myself. Little me has done the Cat and Fiddle. I dare say I may have a tiny swagger as I stroll into the pub. As the rain lashes against the window panes we are all snug inside, warmed by a glorious wood burner and hot cups of various beverages. This is just lovely, this is what biking is all about, a fun ride and the banter and laughter of good friends. I feel all warm and gooey inside and not just from my frothy cappuccino. The bf asks if my tyres slipped at all on any roundabouts and did they feel ok on the twisty bends? I tell him no slips, they stuck fast. He is impressed. My no name Chinese tyres seems curiously effective in the wet. He tells me I did good on the twisty Cat and I am made up. His praise further adds to my glow and any more of this and I might even need to strip of a few layers. What a contrast to how I felt on my previous trip out. 

The fact I seem to ride quite well in the wet sets me thinking. As I said before most of my learning to ride has been done through the wind and rain of winter. I have learned what my bike is capable of in the wet. I have learned that it will stick at a certain pace. I know how far to push it, after all my slide down the tarmac told me when I pushed it too hard. But I have very little dry road experience. This is quite a revelation to me. I have been hard on myself over the fact I got left so far behind on my trip to Northumbria but there is the key. The roads were dry and I do not yet know how to ride to the limit in the dry. I did not know that I could push my bike further on a dry road and still stay shiny side up. I told myself that the learner badge was no longer any excuse with the mileage I had done but those were all mainly wet miles. This thought cheers me up no end. Maybe I am not a shit rider after all. I am in reality still just a learner where dry roads are concerned. So yeah I can ease up on myself. 

The rain eases off for the rest of the journey and with the sun heating us all up we all pull into a lay-by to strip of layers and waterproofs. Everyone is enjoying this ride and wide smiles are on everyone's faces.

We part ways with most of the group soon after as the majority are off to stay in the Premier Inn in Boston leaving myself, Ren and Ste to go our own way to our campsite.

Our designated pitch is at the back of the campsite, so in order to reach it we have to ride through another field. I have never ridden the bike on grass before so this caused a few butterflies to be released in the old stomach area. Especially as there were a lot of other bikers and campers around I did not want to end up falling over. But the bike and I manage to stay upright and park up successfully. Phew!!

keeway rks parked on the grass at the campsite
Parked on grass, another 1st

What A day, what a wonderful exhilarating ride. As a climb off the bike I give Zen a little pat. Such joy this little bike has brought to me. I know I say it all the time but hell it IS true so here I go again ... I LOVE MY BIKE !!

ren sat in the tent making a brew on the stove
Brew time - Perfect end for a perfect day.

Reader's Comments

Frazar said :-
Hi there, could i ask which panniers they are please? Also did the grab handles and pannier handles on the sides prevent the bags from getting close to the rear wheel?

Many thanks,
Fraze (frazar@3dlife.co.uk)
17/02/2021 17:19:01 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Hi Frazer - Sharon reviewed these bags a good while back. Click on the link and all will be revealed.
https://bikesandtravels.com/biker.aspx?ride=670...
18/02/2021 09:54:32 UTC

Post Your Comment Posts/Links Rules

Name

Comment

Add a RELEVANT link (not required)

Upload an image (not required) -

No uploaded image
Real Person Number
Please enter the above number below




Home Sharon's Biking Blog

Admin -- -- Service Records Ren's Nerding Blog
KeyperWriter
IO